By Susanne Jansson
Scientists, government agencies, legislators and environmentalists are sounding the alarm and enacting laws that will mitigate the effects of fluorochemicals, the “forever chemicals” that can affect the health of every man, woman and child in our country. Why?
Fluorochemicals are an entire family of compounds that are man-made. The uniqueness of these chemicals is their carbon-fluorine bond, which does not exist in nature. Considered one of the strongest bonds in chemistry, it requires a lot of energy to make that bond and a lot of energy to break that bond.
Thus, this class of compounds has been given the name “forever chemicals,” because they do not break down in the environment by normal mechanisms the way other chemicals do. What is known now is that fluorochemicals also are easily bonded to proteins in our body and can accumulate over time with disastrous effect.
How did we get here? The first application of carbon-fluoride was for the atomic bomb in 1938. After the war, groundbreaking scientists went to work for corporations such as 3M and made new discoveries about its use.
For example, fluorochemical properties are resistant to heat, oil, stain and water, are long-lasting and not degradable. The 3M corporation’s first consumer product in the 1950s was Scotchgard, with its ability to protect furniture and textiles from stains. Scotchban was introduced to food packaging, preventing oil from french fries leaking through the paper. Dupont, a competing chemical company during this time, purchased from 3M a fluorochemical compound that is known throughout the world as Teflon.
Today, there are no fewer than 10,000 forever chemical combinations that we are exposed to on a daily basis, and a new term, “everywhere chemicals,” now applies.
Here is a short list of items that people around the world use on a regular basis: coated PFAS raincoats and weather gear, firefighting foam, bandages, tampons, toilet paper, dental floss, pots and pans, guitar strings, hand sanitizer, fishing lines, artificial turf, cellphones, and car manufactured parts. Ingredient content of a product may or may not list a per-fluorochemical. And many manufacturers are simply not aware that their products contain forever chemicals.
Ninety-five percent of all living people and animals all over the world have one, two or more PFAS in their blood. PFAS are found in water, air, fish and soil at locations across the nation and around the globe. Scientists and researchers have qualified a range of medical maladies: liver, kidney and thyroid disease, testicular cancers, infertility, immune dysfunction, low birth weight and developmental delays in children.
So what can be done?
The Environmental Protection Agency has determined that 40 percent of U.S. tap water contains one or more forever chemicals. In April 2024, the latest guideline from the EPA, firmly stated that PFOA and PFOS are likely to cause cancer, and no level of either chemical is safe.
Under the EPA’s new regulations, each state must monitor for six specific PFAS in their water systems and have three years to complete initial monitoring (by 2027), followed by ongoing compliance monitoring. Water systems also must provide the public with information on the levels of these PFAS in their drinking water, beginning in 2027. Beginning in five years (2029), public water systems that have PFAS in drinking water, which violates one or more of these maximum contamination levels, must take action to reduce levels of these PFAS in their drinking water and must provide notification to the public of the violation.
States such as Washington, Minnesota and Maine have and continue to develop laws to ban PFAS and require mandatory cleanup by corporations who pollute their water systems. In New York State, Albany legislators and concerned organized citizen groups are working on a packaging reduction bill that will reduce plastic in packaging, eliminate 18 hazardous chemicals and eliminate all PFAS in packaging. It is an ambitious bill that passed the State Senate last session and has strong backing in the Assembly.
Sometimes a global issue is also a local one. Support EPA and legislative action to protect our East End water supply and to reverse and block manufacturers’ use of PFAS in both products and packaging.
Susanne Jansson is chair of the Westhampton Garden Club’s Conservation Committee.
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